Turning atmospheric CO2 into fuel

Wouldn’t this be wonderful? Your solar panels on your garage roof are busy all day turning the carbon dioxide in the air into fuel for your car to use the next day. No matter that more CO2 will be produced when you drive because it will be turned back into fuel with more free sun energy.

Although this has always made sense in terms of the basic chemistry it has not made sense in terms of the temperature and energy input that was needed to make it happen. In one of the most exciting announcements for a while researchers in California claim they have cracked this problem with a Ruthenium catalyst that makes the reaction take place with much lower temperatures.